


Ships o'plenty

by plazorr



Series: Compilations [1]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!, ラブライブ! 虹ヶ咲学園スクールアイドル同好会 | Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai (Anime)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, F/F, Platonic Relationships, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23140360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plazorr/pseuds/plazorr
Summary: Compilations of fics i write for various reasons, but mostly writing events on Discord ^^
Relationships: Asaka Karin/Uehara Ayumu, Ayase Eli/Kurosawa Dia, Kazuno Sarah/Kurosawa Dia, Kousaka Honoka/Toujou Nozomi, Kurosawa Dia/Matsuura Kanan, Kurosawa Dia/Watanabe You, Matsuura Kanan/Ohara Mari, Matsuura Kanan/Watanabe You, Nakasu Kasumi/Ousaka Shizuku, Sakurauchi Riko's Mother/Tsushima Yoshiko's Mother, Sakurauchi Riko/Takami Chika, Takami Chika/Watanabe Tsuki, Tsushima Yoshiko/Watanabe You
Series: Compilations [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983571
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	1. The Idol Fanfic Valentine's day event

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fics i wrote during the Idol Fanfic Hell's Valentine's day writing event. Here were the rules for this event:
> 
> "To participate in the event:  
> -Make a Love Live related fanfic  
> -revolving around a ship from the post above yours  
> -give a ship for the next person!
> 
> If you don't like a ship, either write the pairing platonically or wait for someone else to take the pairing. 
> 
> event ends March 14th 11:59 JST"
> 
> And those are the pairings i chose to write about. I hope you'll enjoy at least some of them :)

# Maki x Rin: A new family member

It started as a normal Sunday, like any other before, for Maki. Well, not really any other day in fact. It was her birthday yesterday and she had gotten a gift from her parents she didn’t expect at all: a young kitten. They knew that their daughter always had a soft spot for those little balls of fur, but they never accepted to let her adopt one before. It was a small orange and white cat, a few months old.

The doorbell rang and Maki went to open it. Maki had agreed with Rin to let her come to her house today to help her prepare for next week’s test. She was energetic as usual, but still a bit nervous about the idea of having to study.

“Maki-chan! I’m happy to see you today nyaa!” she said as she jumped to Maki to hug her.

“Wow, Rin, calm down.”

“But I’m happy you help me stu… st… Atchaaaa!” she started, interrupted by a big old sneeze.

“Are you OK, Rin? You should have told me if you were sick.”

“I’m not sick nyaa…” she said as she moved back. “Usually this only happens when …”

She stopped in the middle of her sentence as she noticed the small animal walking in the room and the orange hairs on Maki’s clothes.

“Nyaaaaaaa!!! I didn’t know you had a little kitty” Rin said as she ran to the newcomer and reached her hand to it.

“I got her yesterday from my parents. I haven’t decided on her name yet, but I think I got an idea”

Rin was confused a little, but resumed to playing with Maki’s pet nonetheless, without stopping to sneeze. Maki looked at them and she couldn’t really say for sure which was the cutest: her Rin or her smaller Rin.  
  


# Chika x Kanan: Memories of a simple time

“Hey Chika, look at this one!” Kanan screamed as Chika was her head in one of the boxes.

The orange haired girl came by her friend’s house bringing stuff from her mom as she often does. That day however, Kanan was busy going through a bunch of boxes where she had stored a lot of things from when they were kids. Chika immediately offered her help to her friend and she accepted it.

“What is it? What is it?” Chika said excited as always.

It was a photo of the two of them with You sleeping together on the beach when they were five and six years old. Chika’s head was resting on Kanan’s belly and her arms were grasping You’s legs. They had probably been playing all day and were so tired that they fell asleep just like that.

“Even when you fell asleep, you couldn’t stop from trying to reach for us.” Kanan said with a smile.

“I take this from a specialist in that domain.” Chika said, pointing to Kanan’s arm on the photo, which was laid on her with her hand resting on Chika’s butt.

Kanan hadn’t even noticed that part of the photo when she had called Chika as she was only focused on how cute she thought her friend looked on that picture. In an instant, her face became red as a tomato.

“Well, it’s not like we knew what that meant back then, we were just children and it simply happened. End of the story, right” Kanan said very nervously.

“Yeah right, we’re grown up now and there’s no way we could touch each other like that. We know it’s the kind of things only lovers would do and that’s not what we are, you and me.”

Chika was also very nervous for a reason she didn’t understand. She looked to her friend’s face and she knew from the look in her eyes that they both had the same word shining in their minds as she had finished her sentence.

“Unless…”

# Mari x Umi: The Sonoda quality

Umi was singing to herself as she entered the Sonoda dojo that day. Her week had been particularly exhausting, and the weekend was near. She only had to take care of one last person who asked for a private training session and she would be able to go relax with Honoka and Kotori. She entered the training room to see who that person was.

It was a blonde girl with a funny hair loop and city clothes. She looked around her like one of those small rodents Umi saw sometimes on the documentaries she watched on the television.

“You are supposed to wear a kimono for the training session. I suggest you go back to the changing room and get one of those there for visitors.”

The girl turned back to her with her head tilted to the side. She instantly seemed very happy to see Umi and a huge smile lit her face.

“Oh great, another one of those fans… It’s only the 8th time this week after all…” Umi thought.

“Oh my god, you are even cuter in real!” the girl screamed as she leapt to Umi and hugged her. “I’m so happy I wasn’t tricked this time and that the man at the reception didn’t take my 6000 yens for nothing.”

“Wait a second, how much money did you pay to see me?” Umi was very surprised by that statement. “I’ve seen other fans and they never had to pay that much for a meeting.”

“I don’t know about prices, I simply came in, threw the money at the person at the desk and asked to meet Umi Sonoda. And, by the way, my name is Mari.”

“Nice to meet you Mari (‘I guess’, she added in her mind). So, do you want to take a photo with me? Maybe you want to talk about something?”

Mari reached inside her bag and showed a camera and a piece of paper.

“None of this actually” she said to Umi’s confusion. “You see, there is a shiny person very dear to me and it’s her birthday very soon. Even though she’s hiding it a bit, I know she’s a huge fan of you. She loves idols a lot and she uses your training regimen daily. I want to record a video where you wish her a happy birthday. I wrote this so you can read it to her.”

That was a first for Umi. She took the note from Mari and started to read it. There seemed to be a bunch of jokes about dolphins and the sea in the message that were a bit weird, but she didn’t see anything she would refuse to say out loud.

“Ok, I’ll read the message for your friend. You may set up the camera.”

The recording went fast as Umi managed to memorize the text very fast and only needed a single take to get it right. Almost a professional performance, she thought with a bit of a guilty pleasure.

“Yes, this is perfect, thank you Umi-chan” Mari said as she planted a big kiss on Umi’s cheek.

“Wow calm down Mari, this is much too shameless” Umi said, very flustered by how sudden it was.

“Really? I could have been much closer to your lips you know?” she answered with a wink. “But I’ve taken enough of your time. Thank you again, my friend.”

And on those words, she ran off.

“What a weird person…” Umi thought as she was alone in the dojo.

She touched her cheek and looked at the rests from Mari’s pink lipstick on her fingers. She looked at her phone and saw a message from Honoka saying she was ready earlier than expected and asked when Umi could meet her at the bakery.

“Well, sometimes it isn’t bad to be a bit weird. Her friend is very lucky to have her around…”

# You x Yoshiko: Gamer night

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!” Yoshiko screamed as she punched her desk with both hands.

“Wow calm down. I’m sure it’ll be better next time.” You said as she looked at the drops they got from their raid.

“But the event is over in two days… and I really want to get that mount…”

Yoshiko and You had started to play a MMORPG together around three months ago. While the fallen angel Yohane had picked a drow shadow sorcerer focused on dealing massive AOE damages, You went for the unusual with a halfling paladin who could both protect and heal. For a whole week now, they farmed every evening in order to get the final reward of the event: the jet-black griffon. From the second she laid eyes on it, Yohane was mesmerized and wanted it to replace her infernal stallion. You wasn’t really into this demonic stuff and was perfectly fine with her armored battle polar bear.

She had brought her pc with her and they were in her friend’s room. She understood a bit why her friend was angry, but it was reaching a new summit. It was true that she was very RNG-screwed as she almost only got the worst loot every time they played. You probably had gotten twice the amount of event items Yoshiko got and they were sadly impossible to trade.

As she moved behind her to look at her screen, You noticed that the loots were particularly low. She didn’t even know it was possible to have this few rewards for completing that quest.

“I’m really sorry, Yohane…” You called her that way in a hope to soothe her.

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault. This is just how unlucky I am.” She answered with a distant look. “I’m the one that should apologize for acting how I did. Sorry, Youchi…”

“Hehe, it still feels a bit weird when you call me with my character’s name.” the girl replied with a grin. “I should have given her my real name.”

“You should have called her Yohane’s little demon, as I told you.” Yohane said as she leaned back in her gaming chair to look her guest in the eyes. “But Youchi is a really cute name, just like the one wearing it.”

When Yoshiko talked to You about that MMO, she had hoped that she could spend more time with her. She didn’t fully understand what she felt towards her sailor friend, but she knew that being with her made her feel the happiest girl in the world. Doing that run together for so long was unexpected as she thought that You would have stopped playing way sooner, but they were still there.

“Why are you still with me?” she thought. “I don’t understand why you spend all your evenings with a weirdo like me… You are such an amazing person. Everyone wants to be friend with you, you are probably the most popular girl in Uranohoshi and your hair looks so good. I wonder how it would feel if I let my fingers dance between them.” Her hands were slowly moving up to reach to You’s face. “And those eyes of yours, it makes me feel like the world is falling over… Wait a second, why do you look scared? Can you hear what I’m thinking? Oh my god, this is so embarrassing, I’m sorry You! Don’t hate me please… Wait another second, the world is really falling over!”

On those thoughts, her head hit the ground as her chair’s leg broke again. It wasn’t her best idea to lean back again to look at You. Or maybe trying to touch her is what made her lose balance? It did hurt a bit, but nothing really bad. She was simply flat on her back, breath taken. You immediately put a knee on the ground to get closer to her.

“Are you ok? Are you hurt?” she asked with a bit of fear.

When she saw her so close, so sincerely concerned about her, her head close to hers, she couldn’t resist. Maybe it was the adrenaline from the fall speaking, but she put her hand on You’s neck and pulled her for a kiss. It was her first kiss ever and she never planned to give it to You, yet, it felt so right to do it. She made it last for a few seconds before letting her retreat, judge her and run away as Yohane would wither away from the mortal world.

“I am sorry You, I do not know why I …” she started before being stopped by You’s lips on hers.

“I was getting worried I would have to be the one doing the first move. I’m really bad at those things. I don’t understand those things super well, but I want to walk that road with your hand in mine.” the sailor girl said when she moved back.

She grabbed Yohane’s arms and lifted her up. Their faces were both red as they were very close to each other.

“So, are you ok?”

“I have never felt better.” Yoshiko answered as she hugged her new girlfriend.

As she rested a bit in You’s arms, she thought about how luck was something weird sometimes. That evening started as the culmination of her gaming bad luck and ended with her getting the best lucky charm. Maybe all the bad luck she had accumulated over the years was about to be transformed into good luck at You’s side? That was a thought that made her forget her griffon for the night. It was confirmed when the next day she got an epic loot session and managed to buy her griffon which she gave You’s name.

# Kanan x Dia: Stormy seas

It was a particularly dark evening. Another typhoon was coming near Numazu, but that wouldn’t stop Dia from working overtime again. As the student council president, it was her duty to take care of every request from the other students, even if it sometimes meant she would stay at school while Ruby was already home for a long time. She was examining a request for higher quality food at the school canteen when she heard someone knocking on her door.

“You may come in.”

It was Kanan. Dia didn’t remember seeing her leave after Aqours practice, but she definitely didn’t expect to see her still here.

“You are still working this late? You should be home already, but I’m a bit glad you’re not.”

“I still have a lot of work to do, that’s why I’m still here. However, I don’t know why you are still here. Didn’t you go home after practice?”

“Hehe, this is what I was supposed to do, but I was a bit tired and closed my eyes in the club room once we were done. Next thing I knew, it was dark outside and the light in this room was the only one still bright.” Kanan explained as she casually put her hands behind her head and stretched a bit.

“How irresponsible from you! I expected better from you Kanan. Chika is starting to have a bad influence on you.” 

“Hey, come on, it’s not that dramatic.” She replied as she sat on the other chair and put her feet on Dia’s bureau. “I simply overslept a bit and I already called my mom to tell her about it. She said that as long as I find somewhere to sleep tonight it will be alright.”

“As long as you what?” Dia said, pretending to not notice the shoes near her perfectly ordered documents.

“You saw the wind’s strength tonight. There’s no way I could go back home with them blowing like that. If only I could ask a good old friend if I could sleep with her until the typhoon goes away.” She said with exaggerated dramatic moves, ending her performance with a wink.

“I guess I have no other option then. I’ll call home and tell my father that a friend will sleep in my room tonight.”

The thunder made a roaring sound and the lights flickered a bit. Kanan instantly moved away from the bureau, almost falling over because of the way she was sitting. She painfully maintained balance, but it was alright so far.

“That one was really close. Maybe we should leave now before it gets even worse.” She stuttered, not hiding her fear of lightnings very well.

“Do not be so childish. Not only are we safe here, but I still have to look at those documents there if I want to stay on schedule.”

“Right, right. I’ll do this part so we can leave to your house earlier, ok?”

“As you wish. Go ahead, I’ll go call home to explain that you’ll be there tonight.”

“Sure, don’t take too long.” Kanan said as she grabbed some documents and started to look at them.

When Dia ended her call, Kanan had already taken care of a lot of the papers. She already knew how to deal with most of them since she had helped Dia during her early days as student council president, during the time Mari was gone. They could leave the place soon after. Even though they both had their own umbrellas, Kanan was so scared she wouldn’t leave Dia’s side by more than two centimeters. After what seemed like an eternity for the dolphin loving girl, they reached their destination and went to bed quickly. Dia’s father had put another futon in his daughter’s room so she only had to borrow one of Dia’s pajamas and she was ready to sleep. Well, in theory at least. Kanan couldn’t stop quivering every time the thunder’s sound resonated, which was fairly often.

“Kanan, I hear you.” Dia started after some time. “Are you alright?”

“Of course, I am!” she answered with her weakest voice.

“No, you’re not. When Ruby is afraid like that, she comes in my bed to sleep. Do you want to do that?”

“What? I don’t know if…” she started before being interrupted by an even louder thunderbolt striking. “Ok, I’m coming.”

She quickly moved inside Dia’s bed, awkwardly lying near her friend, not knowing how to act. The next bolt hastened her decision and she instinctively hugged her friend and burrowed her face in her chest while making weeping noises. In reaction, Dia gently patted her head, not only to calm her, but also to get the opportunity to breathe again.

“There, there. Good girl. It will be alright, I’m here for you.”

The scared sounds didn’t last under Dia’s strokes and they both eventually fell asleep. The next morning, when Ruby went to wake up her sister, she was surprised to see Kanan and even more that she was grasping Dia so hard. Dia, who was fully awake, looked at Ruby while spelling the words ‘Save me’ in the air.

# Dia x You: The careless protector

You, Chika and Ruby were running in the mall at full speed. The next CYaRon live show was supposed to happen in two weeks and their outfits weren’t done yet. When Chika realized how short on time they were, she grabbed both You and Ruby as she started to run from Ruby’s house to a place where they could buy what was needed.  
Chika stopped in front of a fabric shop and rushed with Ruby inside. When she looked at her left hand, she noticed You’s hand wasn’t holding it anymore.  
“Oh no! I lost You-chan again!” she screamed at a disoriented Ruby.  
“No, I’m right behind you. Just go inside and have a look, I’ll rejoin in a few minutes.” You told as she was three meters behind  
“Ok, let’s go Ruby!” she said as she dragged her again, which provoked one of the redhaired girl’s signature screams.

Usually You would be the one to go first into a clothing shop, but she had noticed someone following them during their run. She couldn’t really see who it was, but she could see that that person was hiding behind one of the pillars in the mall’s hallways. She moved quietly to go and confront the stalker. As You appeared in front of her, they were both really surprised to see the other.  
“Dia? What are you doing here? Why are you following us?”  
“What? Following you? Ha ha, what a foolish idea that is. Why would I do that?”  
“That’s what I just asked you and … oh” she interrupted herself as she noticed the student council president’s feet. “Did you really run from your house to here with those heels? How can you even walk right now?”  
“Well the truth is that I was training for a high-heels running competition, but it seems I still need more training.” Dia said as she was scratching her mole.  
“Dia…”  
“Oh fine, you got me.” She said, visibly embarrassed. “The truth is that I wanted to keep an eye on Ruby. I am worried about what could happen if she follows you and Chika. Well, mostly Chika. Please go back to them before she accidently set that shop on fire.”  
“You should trust Ruby a bit more; she has a great role model with you after all. I’m sure they’ll be fine while I take care of that foot. Really, look at its color. You could have injured yourself, Dia-chan.” She said as she took a cream she uses when she injures herself out of her bag and started to massage her senior’s foot with it.  
“You don’t need to go out of your way to help me You-chan” Dia said, flustered by both the cold cream and the way You just called her.  
“I’m happy to help. I’ve thought for a while that we didn’t spend enough time together you and me and it saddens me a bit. Let this be the first step in our relation, ok?” You told her with a wink.  
“I would love that.” Dia said with a happy smile.  
You spent the next minutes helping Dia feel better with her expert hands. She was used to helping her friends at the swimming pool when they hurt themselves. It felt different with Dia though…

“You’re right You. I should let Ruby grow without overprotecting her. The problem is that I’m too used to it and I don’t even know how to stop.”  
“If it is overwhelming, you might spoil me instead. I never had a real big sister. I wonder how it feels…” You said and immediately started to turn red. “Oh I’m sorry! This is not something I should have said loud. Please forget about it!”  
“Maybe that’s not a bad idea…” Dia said to You’s surprise. “Would you be ok if I acted in a more protective way with you?”  
“I … Well … I … think I’d love it. I mean, it would be nice. Yes, that’s it. I’d appreciate it.” She answered putting a suspicious emphasis on the word ‘appreciate’.

On those words, You put her cream back in her bag.  
“I’m not sure you will be able to walk alone though… I’ll tell Chika I have to walk you back home.”  
“Please, do not tell her you saw me. It’s too embarrassing…”  
“Ok, as you wish. I’ll tell her I got a phone call and need to go back home.”  
“Thank you, You. I think I should repay you for your kindness though…”  
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m happy to help you if you need it.”  
“How about I take you to one of my favorite restaurants tomorrow?”  
“YES!!! … I mean, this sounds nice thank you for the offer I’d love to do that with you and by that I mean eating with you and now I will go tell Chika I’m leaving and I come right back see you soon.”  
On these babbling words, she headed to the cloth shop, head low but a radiant smile on her face. If she had looked behind her, she would have seen a similar expression on Dia’s face.

# Dia x Sarah: Shots fired

Dia was extremely angry. Not only was she pressured by her little sister to go see their friends from Saint Snow, but she hid the true reason she wanted to go there. Ruby told her she would “practice her songs” with Leah, that they would “learn some dance moves together” or that they would “discuss lyrics writing”. Dia noticed how Ruby was fidgeting the whole time when she told her about it, but she thought it was because she was impatient to see her friend again. It appears she wanted to see her lover again, something Dia wished she didn’t discover by walking too close to Leah’s door and hearing the sounds inside the room. She thought those sounds would haunt her for the rest of her life…

She quickly ran from that cursed house and ended up in a bar without even thinking more than that. She sat down and asked for a beer: some people said it helped forgetting stuff and that’s exactly what she wanted at that moment. She was on her second glass when someone sat next to her.

“I didn’t expect to see you here miss president.” The voice of Sarah said.

“There’s things here I didn’t expect to see either.” Dia replied without looking at her

“Same for me. When she told me you were visiting, I didn’t expect to see my pure little sister naked with another girl on top of her… It seems like a nightmare…” She said as she asked the barman for a drink herself.

“I only heard the sounds and screams, don’t put the images in my head too please.”

“Just saying, but if it meant getting it out of mine, I’d have no regret throwing it in yours.”

“That’s fair. Cheers?”

“To our little sisters who grow up too fast? Cheers.”

They hit their glasses against each other. Soon after, they were back to their melancholy. They remained silent for the next drinks. After those, nothing could stop them from talking.

“Did we do something wrong that they didn’t tell us they wanted to fuck?” Sarah declared

“Hey there! My sister doesn’t fuck! She makes sweet love to her partner like a good Kurosawa! Maybe a Kazuno fucks, but we don’t!” Dia stuttered with her newfound drunken voice.

“Don’t dodge the question like that Presi. You didn’t know they loved each other like that, right?” Sarah continued with a tone that had nothing to envy to Dia’s.

“No, you are right, I’m a terrible big sister.” She declared as she started crying

“I’m a bad sister too because my sister fucks!” Sarah screamed as she fell into Dia’s arms and cried with her.

They stayed like that during a whole minute before moving away from each other to return to their drinks. The other clients were starting to look at them weirdly and the barman kept an eye on them too.

“Do you think they didn’t tell us because they are both girls and they think we would be mad at that?” Sarah asked after sobbing for a while.

“Nah, Ruby knows I would be cool with that. I don’t know if you’d be as cool with that though, Sa.”

“What? Look how cool I am with that.” Sarah said as she kissed Dia on the lips.

“Wait, why are you kissing me? I knew our sisters were gay, but I didn’t know we were too.”

“But we want to show our sisters that gay is not bad and that we love them even if they love each other, right?”

“You are right Sa; you really are smart. Look, I’m a good sister.” Dia said as she went for Sarah’s lips.

The second kiss was interrupted when they both burst into laughter and almost fell from their chairs, knocking over their drinks. This commotion made the barman come to them as the clients looked at them, scandalized.

“I’m sorry young ladies, but I’ll have to ask you to pay and leave this place. The ruckus you make disturbs the rest of my clients.”

“Sure, we have to go talk to our sisters anyway.” Sarah said as she threw some money from her bag on the desk.

“Yeah! We have to show them how we are good and caring sisters!” Dia added as she put money on top of Sarah’s.

After that, they zigzagged back to the Kazuno house and busted the door open before starting to scream in the hall.

“LEAH!!! IT’S OK IF YOU ARE SUPER GAY FOR RUBY!!!”

“YEAH RUBY!!! COME SEE HOW OK WE ARE WITH GAY GIRLS!!”

Dia would have tried to kiss Sarah another time, but she suddenly felt like gravity became much stronger and she fell on the ground. She started to snore shortly after. Sarah was about to mock her for being a “pussy presi”, but she fell too, asleep even before hitting the ground and Dia’s back.

Ruby and Leah came to the hall running, both white as snow after hearing their sisters. They were both surprised to see them in that position and grabbed each one to put them back to their respective beds. Once they were done, they looked at each other.

“Second round?”  
“Only if I get to be on top this time.”  
“Deal.”  
On those words, Ruby grabbed Leah’s hand and they ran back to her room.

# Yoshiko’s Mom x Riko’s Mom: A daughter’s privacy

Midori Sakurauchi and Yuu Tsushima had become friends after meeting during an Aqours concert. This situation made their daughters scared as both were afraid about what their mother could tell the other, who would tell it to their daughter. The weekly teatime they had together was the pinnacle of the two girl’s terrors. They would meet that day in a café in the center of Numazu.

“Hello Yuu, it’s nice to see you today” Mrs. Sakurauchi started.

“Nice to see you too Midori. You know I’m waiting all week long for our teatime.” Mrs. Tsushima said.

They sat at a table and looked at the different teas in the menu while discussing banalities about their daily lives and the troubles their girls were having.

“By the way, there is something I must absolutely discuss with you.” Midori said as she lowered her voice. “I was cleaning Riko’s room and found a draft for a love letter she was writing.”

“Wow, how spicy!” Yuu said as she moved closer, remembering the gossips she loved during her high school years. ‘Do you have any idea about who the lucky boy is?”

“Well, I’m not 100% sure, but I think the recipient is supposed to be your daughter.”

“Oh my, are you sure about that?”

“Well, it was clearly addressed to a girl, a friend even it would seem, and she called her ‘her lovely angel, even though she was fallen from grace’ in the letter. I think this doesn’t leave a lot of possibilities.”

The waiter arrived at that moment and Yoshiko’s mother ordered one of the simplest teas as fast as possible to get back to the conversation. Riko’s mother ordered a most sophisticated one, impermeable to her friend’s haste.

“This is so exciting! I didn’t know your daughter swung that way too.” Yuu said with a mischievous gaze.

“She never told me about it, but a mother can feel those things and … wait, what do you mean by ‘too’?” Is Yoshiko …”

“As you said, even if they don’t tell us, our daughters can’t hide from us very well.”

“If she is also interested in girls, do you think that Riko and Yoshiko could … you know?” Midori said, having a lot of trouble to put her thoughts into words.

“Yes! Yes! How fun would it be for our girls to date each other! Oh, how it feels like I’m back to Numazu High, taking those love affairs in my hands.” Yuu said, laughing.

“Did you get involved often with those things? Also, you think we really should interfere?”

“Of course, we should! You know them, they clearly need a push on the back to get things started. And since my marriage was already arranged when I was young, all I could do was meddle with the other girl’s lives. You chose your husband yourself, didn’t you?”

“Yes, it’s true. During my high school years, I was free to date all the classmates I wanted to.”

“But you said recently that you went to Otonokizaka during your high school years and it’s an all-girl school.” Yoshiko’s mother looked her friend in the eyes, despite the other’s attempts to escape her gaze. “Does that mean the apple didn’t fall so far from the tree?”

“Let’s just say my tastes evolved with time, ok. Could we please go back to our daughters?”

“Haha, sure. But I hope you’ll tell me some of your adventures sometime, I’d love to hear them.”

The waiter came back at that moment with their drinks. The two friends thanked him and tasted the drinks in their cups.

“Mmmmh, it’s delicious.”

“I like this place a lot. Now, let’s plan how we can get these two to declare to each other” Yuu said as she took a notebook and a pen out of her bag with a radiant smile.

# Honoka x Yoshiko: Black sword

The sound of Yoshiko’s blade against her opponent’s resonated through the room as they both moved back to prepare the next assault. She held her sword in a defensive posture, waiting for her rival to take the initiative. The mask covering the face of her rival was not only protecting her face, but also kept her from reading the facial expressions that could have given her hints about the next moves she would have to parry. As a consequence, she paid more attention to the wrists and legs, looking for a move indicating a direction, a dash she could use to her advantage during this duel.

Yoshiko noticed her opponent was putting her weight on her left leg, which indicated that she was probably about to try and run to her. Her opponent was holding her sword in a low guard posture, pointing to the right. Yoshiko was prepared to parry a strike on her left flank and moved accordingly. She realized her mistake too late. Her opponent started her move as she planned, but she balanced her weight to her right leg at the last moment, stopping her movement in the middle of her dash, dropping her sword only to grab it again by the blade and landed a devastating upward blow on Yoshiko’s flank with the hilt. The air left her lungs as she received a kick in the stomach, throwing her on the floor and letting her edge fall away from her.

“Oh sorry, I got carried away again.” The winner of the duel said. “Did I hurt you Yohane?”

She removed her kendo helmet, revealing a cascade of orange hair stopping at her shoulders. She dropped her wooden sword to help her friend getting up.

“I love using half swording when an opening presents itself, but I really shouldn’t use it against a beginner. And I shouldn’t do the full sequence with the kick too…”

“No, it’s alright Honoka. I didn’t see that one coming until it was too late. I can’t get better if I don’t bite the dust from time to time after all.” Yoshiko said as she grabbed her hand to get back up.

“Hehe, that’s what my kendo trainer said when I almost qualified for the national championship the first time.” Honoka mentioned as she nervously scratched the back of her head.

“What? I knew you were an amazing duelist, but I didn’t know you actually almost competed at a national level.”

“Well, I failed that time, but I kept training and could join the competition the next year. It was a junior competition; I was ten years old. I had to wait another year to make it to the semifinals though.”

“When I asked you to help me train for the Comiket sword contest, I didn’t know I was asking to such an elite warrior of light… Kotori simply told me you knew how to wield a blade when I asked her to help me for the cosplay part.”

“It happened a long time ago, it’s almost as if it was in another life. I don’t get the opportunity to draw my sword very often with my school idol training and all my friends. It’s not that I miss it, but it feels good to do it from time to time. I should thank you for letting me do it again, Yohane.” Honoka said with a radiant smile.

“No, I … I’m the one that should thank you. You didn’t have to accept to train me, but you did. And I’m really happy.”

“You’re making me blush.” She said with a nervous smile. “But the training hasn’t even begun. I’m still trying to assert you true level. Speaking of which…”

Honoka walked towards Yoshiko’s sword, grabbed it and threw it at her before moving to her own. Yoshiko caught it and stretched a bit before going back to her waiting position.

“It’s time for the seventh duel out of ten before I give you my pieces of advice. Are you ready?” Honoka said as she put her mask back on her face.

“Come at me! My sword hand is twitching and I’m ready to unleash my eldritch smackdown attack.” Yoshiko said with a dark smile.

# Chika x Riko: Dear diary

That evening, like almost every evening before, Riko sat at her desk and took her pen after retrieving something from beneath her drawer.

“Dear diary,

Today was my first day at the Numazu High School. I was very nervous since it meant transferring to a new school again, but I had my friends at my side this time.  
But most importantly, I had Chika with me <3

She was so gorgeous in her Numazu uniform; I couldn’t believe it. She was very proud of it too. When we met outside of our houses, she was twirling and striking poses, making a bit of a fool of herself. However, this is also a part of her charm and one of the reasons I love her so much. I felt really ordinary with my own uniform, yet she said that I was really cute. I’m sure she didn’t really mean it, but it made me feel nice nonetheless: I was a bit afraid that she would hear my heart beating so strongly.

After that, we met with You and the others on our way to our new school. Chika was trying to lift everyone’s spirits on our way to our classes. All this time, I was hoping that we could be in the same classroom. Since there were a total of four third year classes, it wasn’t guaranteed at all, so all I could do was hoping that Tsuki would help keeping us together. We all knew Chika and You would be in the same class, but I was worried about myself still…

In the end, we could still be together. Even better, the teacher made me sit behind Chika. This way, I could look at her every time I wanted to. I hope my grades won’t suffer from this. I will also have to be careful. There was a moment when I was so mesmerized by her that I unconsciously tried to touch her in the middle of the lesson. I was so ashamed when I realized my hand was so close to her beautiful hair. Luckily, I stopped my impulse in time and she didn’t notice me. You, who was next to her didn’t see me either I think (or maybe, I hope).

But the most important event of the day happened during our lunch break. I was eating from my bento with everyone when Chika noticed my meal and asked if she could taste it. I answered ‘yes’ and she took a bite, but she took one where I had already bitten. I think this was an indirect kiss, right? I was a bit flustered and when I continued eating, I swear it tasted a bit like mikans, which made me even more weird than I usually am. She then asked me if I was ok and I tried to come up with a good answer as fast as possible and to not freak her out. I stuttered a bit, but I told her that I was thinking about Prelude and the things he did all the time, like chasing after his tail or licking my face to wake me up. I expected Chika to talk about Shiitake and her younglings, but she said something I didn’t expect.

‘Can you blame him? I’m sure you taste delicious Riko!’

For two seconds, my brain was shut down. I couldn’t believe Chika had said with a straight face that I would taste good. I mean, I’m sure she said it innocently and I have come to term with the fact that I’m probably a bit of a pervert, but it was too late. I had that image in my head while there were people near me. I imagined Chika grabbing my knees, spreading my legs and putting her face in my gsksdsjdsjdbgsjvx I can’t even write it down!!! I said that I needed to go to the bathroom to escape her gaze and to catch my breath.

I couldn’t believe I was thinking about that in a public place! At my school on top of it! I really didn’t want the girls here to know what mess lied inside me. But every time I looked back in Chika’s direction, I had that image and words like ‘Mmmmmh, you really do taste good Riko’ running back to my sick brain. I had to run to the nearest bathroom to cool down. I locked myself there and cried for a while with my guilt.

I’m tired of this…

I know for some time now that I prefer girls to boys, but I haven’t found the courage to talk about it to anyone else than you, dear diary, not even my mother or my father. A part of me is tired of hiding, but there is also the part of me that is afraid of what they will think of me, especially Chika. I don’t want to, no, I can’t lose her… I think that all of Aqours would accept me as I am, but I’m really afraid that my feelings towards Chika are not mutual, that she only sees a friend in me.

But the more I think about it, the more I believe I can’t keep living like this. There is still a chance she might be interested in being more than friends with me. After all, after seeing my doujins, she asked me if I could lend her one of my mangas to learn to know me better through my readings. I reluctantly gave her my first editions of ‘Bloom into You’ and she returned them later asking if I could lend her the rest and that she loved the story in the end. Maybe I shouldn’t worry so much…

Ok, I’ve decided it. I will tell Chika how I feel about her. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not this week, but when I feel like the time is perfect, I will tell her ‘Chika Takami, do you want to be my girlfriend?’. I’m shaking just thinking about it, but I’ll tell you how it went when I reach that point because I’m starting to hear my pillow’s call.

Goodnight, dear diary.”

Riko was putting her diary back in its hiding place when she heard a sound coming from outside.  
“Riko! Riko! Are you already writing for our next song as the new Aqours?” Chika screamed with her usual excitement.  
“I was thinking about what the future holds for us, Chika” she answered with an enigmatic smile.  
“Wow, I’ll really have to start working on lyrics soon then. Tell me when you’re done with our melody, please.” Chika continued, impervious to the double meaning in Riko’s words.


	2. The idol chatter event

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another writing event i took part in. Here are the rules this time
> 
> Welcome to the Idol Chatter Event! :RubyYay:  
> Tired of SIFAS not giving you the interactions you want? Well then have we got the event for you! Over the next month, we'll be using the following tool to make your own little dialogue vignettes to explore the interactions between your favorite characters! :KasumiXD:  
> Use this tool to create your own SIFAS story, and post it in the appropriate channel.  
> https://lldetail.ml/LLAS/mainichi/index.html?fbclid=IwAR3jIWtk3W18MYVFNkaaSJ6QIk475IBEVr_VB3rXLUIbWOVUReEVYDNGEtg  
> We’ll have three different categories, but feel free to flex your creative muscles in any or all of them! They are as follows:  
> •Drama :NicoSip:  
> •Comedy :MariKek:  
> •Romance/Fluff :KarinLove:  
> React to the stories you like with :AiLoveYou:  
> At the end of each week for 4 weeks, a writer from each category with the highest reactions will get a special role!  
> Checks are May 11, May 18, May 25, and event ends on June 1st (JST)  
> This time on Idol Fanfic Hell: D-idol-logue Hell! (Please laugh it took me 5 minutes to make this pun)
> 
> So, here are my entries for the 4 weeks :)

## Drama Category

## Comedy Category

## Romance Category


	3. The rare pair event / Summer times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Compilation of fics approximately between 200 and 2000 words . Summer themed and featuring rare pairs (romantic and platonic). See notes for details.
> 
> Summary:  
> 1) Karin x Ayumu: The queen of the beach  
> 2) You x Ai: Miss Sunshine  
> 3) Umi x Rin: We will do it  
> 4) Riko x Maki: The sun always burns twice  
> 5) Eli x Dia: Autograph please  
> 6) Chika x Hanamaru: The desert of Uchiura  
> 7) Mari x Yoshiko: To the sunlight with you  
> 8) Nozomi x Honoka: Stuck at home  
> 9) Shizuku x Kasumi: Why are we still here?  
> 10) Kanan x You: Drowning in her heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took part in another writing event on Discord and wrote these 10 fics for it.  
> Here are the rules this time
> 
> Welcome to the Rarepair Event!  
> Down with the ruling class!  
> No fancy names, the title explains it all.  
> The top 10 ships for both Muse and Aqours have been banned. No more NozoEli, no more YohaRiko, just pairs that you want to share that are mildly rare.  
> For the purpose of this event, all Nijigaki pairings are rarepairs  
> To participate, your fics must:  
> -Be readable on discord (no word docs!)  
> -Be love live related  
> -Be posted in #rarepair-event  
> -Not include any of the 20 ships listed below
> 
> Event ends 07/20/2020 midnight CST  
> Happy writing!
> 
> The pairings banned were  
> NozoEli - NicoMaki - KotoUmi - RinPana - UmiHonk - TsubaHonk - NozoNico - KotoHonk - RinMaki - UmiMaki  
> YohaRiko - ChikaRiko - ChikaYou - KanaMari - YouRiko - DiaMari - YohaMaru - KanaDia - DiaMaru - YouHane
> 
> On top of the pairing constraint, i decided to add the constraint of having all my fics be summer-related in some way. I hope you will enjoy reading them :)

## Karin x Ayumu: The queen of the beach

Ayumu was in a weird mood that day. When Karin invited her to the beach, she initially thought it would be a great opportunity to bond further with her senior. Little did she know how things would turn out.

They were supposed to meet at a beach hut they both knew. Ayumu chose her orange one-piece swimsuit that let her hips be visible. She fully knew that it was no use to try to look at her advantage anyway. Next to Karin’s splendor, she felt like she was just a canker. That thought anchored a bit deeper inside her when she arrived soon after her. Unlike Ayumu, she was confident enough to wear a string and a bikini top that was hardly containing her forms.

“Hey! Ayumu!” Karin screamed, waving at her.

The display of her bouncing boobs as she moved her arms was a bit too shameless for Ayumu. It was not shameless enough for all the men and boys who looked in her direction. A lot of wives and girls had to loudly clear their throats to keep their men from drooling too much. Some blushed at her, from jealousy or envy, Ayumu couldn’t tell. In fact, she didn’t want to know. She put one of her arms under her breasts to keep them from moving as she waved back at her friend, faking a smile.

“Well, it’s not like anyone would look at me anyway when she’s there.” Ayumu thought as she tried to stay discreet, a concern Karin didn’t have it seemed.

When she reached Ayumu, Karin hugged her. The contact with her bare skin made her feel even more uneasy. She cut short to the display of affection and suggested to move to find a place to spend the day.

“As I was coming here, there was a beach manager that offered me a discount. Maybe we could go to his place?” Karin said as she pointed to a part of the beach with lots of chairs and parasols next to each other.

“Yeah, we could. Why not? I like to go to those places but they’re usually horribly expensive I think…”

The beach manager’s place was around 100m away. Those were the longest 100m ever for Ayumu, as she was unable to talk to Karin at all. They kept being interrupted by boys coming to them to whistle at Karin, to invite her for dinner or to a match of beach-volley. She declined all their offers, telling that she wanted to stay with her friend. They would have a simple look at Ayumu, who they hadn’t even noticed half the time, and they retreated with a frustrated expression. Midway, it seemed that Karin was tired of them too since she grabbed Ayumu’s hand in hers with a wink. Even though the boys were more hesitant after that, some still came while Ayumu felt like she was treated like a little sister.

“Oh, hello times two, baby! Glad you came back to illuminate my boot with your presence.” The manager said as they both arrived in front of him. He was a 26-year-old man with a speedo, an open vest and nothing under it except a necklace with a shark tooth and sunglasses. “For you I can make the price 1500 yens. Or 1000 if you accept to come eat some seafood with yours truly.” He added with a wink.

Karin looked at him with a coy smile and took 3000 yens out of her bag, giving them to him without a word.

“Enough for us both, right?” she said pulling Ayumu slightly closer.

“Of course, my dear, of course!” he said through his teeth. He had planned to make Ayumu pay the full price but couldn’t back down anymore. “Let me escort you two lovely ladies to your place.”

Ayumu clearly felt some hostility towards her in how he insisted on the word “two”.

“Did this idiot really think he could have gotten Karin with his cliché look and catchphrases?” Ayumu thought. “As if this clown was worthy of her…” 

Their spot on the beach had a parasol, two long chairs and a table between them. Karin and Ayumu put their bags next to their seats. The manager offered to bring them drinks for a modest price. Karin declined his offer but said that they would maybe call him back later. He must have considered it a small victory looking at his gait as he moved back to the main hut.

“Pfft… I’m sorry we had to deal with this clown Ayumu…” Karin said, dropping her calm attitude to pout. “I’m tired of those horny guys sometimes, but at least we can use them to our advantage, right?”

“I- I don’t know, I never had to deal with them myself.” Ayumu said with a somewhat nervous laughter ending her claim.

“What? Really? A cute girl like you?” Karin said dumbfounded. “No way. I can’t believe it.”

“Karin, all those men here are looking at you, not at me. I’m not cute at all compared to you.”

“The only reason they’re looking at me is because they’re horny, Ayumu!” Karin said as she grabbed Ayumu’s hands again, looking her in the eyes. “I am attracting a kind of people who just go to girls and invite them for the night. Don’t get me wrong, I love my look and I wouldn’t change it for any other.”

She moved even closer, putting her hands on Ayumu’s waist, her face moving closer to hers.

“But you, Ayumu, you shine from deep within. It’s not something these idiots would see since they don’t understand anything other than ‘boob’ and ‘ass’. I know you better than them, I know how beautiful you are. To me, you are magnificent on the outside too, no matter what you believe!”

Ayumu felt her eyes becoming a bit watery as she listened to Karin’s words.

“Karin… I was jealous because I wanted to attract as much attention as you. I wanted to feel desired, even just a little…” She said, finally tearing up at her own last words.

Again, Karin moved in to hug her. This time however, Ayumu didn’t feel awkward at all. She wrapped her arms around her friend and gave in to the hug.

“Don’t worry Ayumu, I think you are the queen of this beach, no matter what you or the fools think about it.” Karin said, painfully swallowing the additional 3 words she wanted to tell her. “Now is not the time.” She thought with a smile as Ayumu’s hair was tickling her nose.

## You x Ai: Miss Sunshine

BAM !

The crowd was sheering as Ai struck her pose, left hand on her waist and right hand reaching to the summer sky. The grin on her face was making the crowd swoon. 

POW !

Balancing her hips to the left, she was clenching her fist in front of her, stepping forward with a fighter pose. Another round of applause could be heard. The audience loved her, and she loved her audience.

From the sidelines of the podium, the other contestants of the seaside beauty contest were shaking. The raw charisma emanating from that girl on the scene was too much for them and they believed their chances to win were done for. One of the girls even ran away, claiming that she had forgotten to take care of something. No girl believed in herself anymore.

Except one girl.

You Watanabe was never the kind of girl to run away from a challenge. She was the girl who would run into danger, the one to issue the challenge herself. And when nobody would dare to live up to them, she would accomplish them herself. You believed in herself, and that Ai girl wouldn’t defeat her, not with her friends in the audience. Her friends, who challenged her to take part to the contest in the first place, would get a show they won’t forget.

The organizer came to the girls waiting and asked who would be next since Ai’s performance would soon be over. They all took a step back, except You. Not only did she stand her ground, but she even stepped forward with a warrior grin.

“I’m up next.” She simply said, full of confidence.

She moved to the stairs to the podium, waiting for Ai to strike a final pose and salute the audience one last time. When she was done, she moved to You to exit the stage, still waving to the people cheering for her.

“Good luck out there.” Ai said, proposing a high five to her competitor.

“Thanks. I’ll do my best.” You answered, smiling as she smacked her hand on her way in.

\--------------------------------------------------

You was drinking her granita on a bench near the beach, looking at the waves. Next to her was her trophy from the beauty contest. The evening breeze was refreshing after such a hot day. She was lost in thoughts when a voice rang close to her.

“Mind for a little company?”

It was Ai. After You nodded and smiled, she gently pushed You’s reward for her second place at the contest to sit next to her. She crossed her arms behind her back and took a deep breath.

“It was really fun competing with you today. I was really worried I might lose to you, You.”

“It was a really funny day.” You said, still thinking a bit about the moment when the organizer announced Ai’s victory under a thunder of cheers. “I just wanted to have fun and that’s what I got in the end.”

“Your sailor impression is on point. I wish I was as good at it.”

“Eh, that’s my thing, don’t steal it!” You said, laughing as she bumped her with her shoulder. “You get to keep the puns monopole, that’s good too.”

“Ai guess it is. Though You have a great puntential yourself I must admit.” Ai said, joining her in her laughter.

It took them a few seconds to calm down. They had to wipe a tear or two from their eyes after their laughter together. They both got lost a bit looking at the sunset and the orange-colored sky.

“I’m glad I got to take part to the contest.” Ai started. “Not because I won, but because I like to take any opportunity to make new friends. I probably wouldn’t have met you if Ayumu and Yu didn’t pressure me into joining.”

“What? You too? I took part in it because my friends Chika and Riko wanted me to join. I guess we got together because of our friends in the end.”

“Haha, we probably share a bunch of similarities. What about learning more about each other while eating an ice cream?”

Ai extended her fist in You’s direction with a smile. It’s like none of them could stop smiling. Despite losing, she was truly happy for Ai. It was the first time they saw each other, but You could tell she was a nice girl and she was genuinely happy for her as she received the winner’s trophy.

“Of course” You said, fist bumping her new friend.

## Umi x Rin: We will do it

“Umi, please. I can’t take it anymore nya…” Rin said, not having any energy left in her body.

“Hush yourself, we’re far from done here.” Umi said as she gathered her tools. “It’s not wet enough. Do something.”

“Again? No, just give up please… It’s not a problem if we don’t do as good as Honoka and Kotori. They can have that one victory. It doesn’t really matter in the end.”

“IT MATTERS TO ME RIN!!!” Umi said with a scary look. “We will defeat them at any cost.”

She threw an empty bucket at Rin’s feet. The poor girl was almost crying.

“Go get some water from the sea.” Umi said as she continued to add sand to their castle. “It’s beginning to dry and crumble already. I won’t let Honoka have the biggest castle today.”

“Nyaaaaaa…” Rin lamented as she grabbed the bucket and started moving to the sea. “ I knew I should have teamed up with Nozomi…”

## Riko x Maki: The sun always burns twice

Maki was more of an indoor child when she was younger. Partly because of how sheltered she was, but also because the outside world was always too noisy for her. She used to almost only listen to classic music or jazz, sipping some tea on a chair in the garden of one of her family’s houses during summer, reading some books. That was how she lived before µ’s wrecked her convictions. After their arrival in her life, she became somewhat addicted to the beach.

After leaving Otonokizaka, Maki ended up completing her medical degree and had started working in the emergency department of her family’s hospital. She worked hard every day and she felt even more the need for a full week of vacation. She departed to her family’s residence in Numazu and planned to spend all her days perfecting her tan and reading books again. She had booked a spot at a portion of private beach for the week. It was one of those places where you could rent a long chair and order drinks. There were also screens protecting from both the wind and indiscreet eyes.

The first days were calm for Maki. There was only one person who had rented the spot next to hers and that person had been very calm all the time, letting her spend her days reading as planned. Maki only partly saw them as she left her spot at the end of one day. She could only catch a glance at a girl with long red hair with a hat, writing something in a book. She thought with a guilty smile that it was a good last sight of the beach for that day.

On the 4th day of her vacation, the other girl was already there when Maki arrived. She was talking to her phone and seemed a bit displeased by the conversation she was having, to say the least. When Maki sat on her spot with the cocktail she had ordered from the manager, her sight on the cute girl was blocked. However, she could still hear some brims of the conversation. Apparently, the girl next to her was jealous of a friend or something like that. It seemed she was in a tough spot because someone didn’t want to see her anymore. A situation Maki was too familiar with to her liking.

The girl angrily ended her call, throwing her phone inside her bag. She aimed poorly and the phone ended up in the sand. Screeching, she jumped to catch it before too much sand would come inside, unplugging the earphones to her mp3 doing so. The music she was listening to began to play loudly, grabbing the attention of everyone nearby. The girl slowly crawled back behind the screens so she couldn’t be seen anymore. The song was “Ashiteru Banzai”.

Maki was surprised: she didn’t expect for the girl to be listening to her song. She had written and sung it six years before with µ’s. She also could have a better look at her neighbor and her first impression was right. That girl was hot as heck with her long hair, thin silhouette and stylish one-piece swimsuit. She somehow looked familiar, but Maki couldn’t put the finger on where she saw her already. She couldn’t have a clear look at her face, but her body looked weirdly familiar. However, more than how the girl looked, she was concerned about the sobs she was hearing.

If the Maki from before µ’s had heard those sounds, she would have put her own earpieces on and set her music louder to cover the noises she was making. The Maki from after µ’s was not like that anymore. She moved closer to the screen and gently talked through it to the crying girl.

“Hey, don’t worry too much. That kind of things happen to everyone.” Maki said, trying to have her voice sound as positive as possible.

“But it always happens to me. I’m such a useless disaster...”

Maki was a bit overwhelmed. The situation was getting out of hand after only one line from her.

“Don’t say such things. I’m sure are a better person despite what you think. It’s only a phone after all. And, at least, you have good taste for music.” Maki said, not letting an opportunity for a bit of boasting pass by.

“Hehe…” the girl was weakly laughing at what Maki had said. “I could swear I’m listening to my friend Chika. She also used to tell me such things…”

A deep sigh could be heard on the girl’s side.

“I miss her… I did something stupid and now she doesn’t want to be anywhere near me anymore.”

“I’m sure things will get better as time passes. Did you do something that horrible?” Maki asked, both terrified by how the conversation was evolving and curious about that full story.

“I told her I was in love with her two months ago. She rejected me and we haven’t had a real talk since it happened. We see each other during our club activities, where we are forced to communicate, but that’s it. Nothing more than professional discussions between her and me…”

“I see.” Maki said, stupefied that this girl would tell a total stranger about her homosexuality. It took Maki years to even dare considering coming out to her family. This girl was either incredibly at ease about her sexuality or depressed to the point nothing mattered to her anymore. She feared the 2nd option was the correct one. “I experienced something similar years ago. Let me tell you those scars heal sooner or later.”

“How similar was it?” the girl asked, seemingly coming out of her self-pity. Maki felt like there was no harm in telling her about it. Maybe they would both feel better?

“I also wanted to date another member from my club when I was in high school.” Maki said, lowering her voice a bit to be sure only the girl on the other side of the panel would hear her. “It wasn’t love at first sight, far from it. I didn’t want to love a girl, but she had that energy I couldn’t keep out of my mind. And I couldn’t deny my feelings eternally. I joined her club mainly because of her in the end, because I wanted to be with her. It was harder than I thought since her two best friends were always with her. Things were going slowly between us and we became closer when I became a 2nd year student. After a full year of hanging with her, I finally gathered my courage and told her I wanted her to be my girlfriend.”

Maki marked a pause in her story. Her face was pressed against the screen and she could guess the other girl’s form on the other side. She could also feel her cheeks becoming wet. It was years ago, and she felt stupid for still allowing that story to hit her so hard when she was telling it. She could live with it without any problem but putting words on that story made her relive the scene in the music room, made her hear Honoka’s words again.

“But this wasn’t what she wanted.” Maki continued, hiding the tremors in her voice as much as possible. “She pushed me away and we began to see each other less and less. I cried for entire nights, wondering what I did wrong. I had some of my friends comfort me and praise my courage to tell her my feelings. In the end, the scars she left on me healed and I wouldn’t be the person I am now if I hadn’t experienced that rejection. And I’m proud of who I am now. As you should be.”

Maki felt some agitation behind the screen.

“I don’t know anything about you, but if you chose to walk the path of the love you believe in, despite what our society might say about girls like us, despite what your friends might think, you should be proud of you. Someday, you’ll meet a girl that will love you back. Maybe it will be your friend having changed her mind, maybe it will be someone else. But you and I, we will eventually find our special one. Ok?”

The girl on the other side was breathing heavily. Maki wiped her tears and worried about having said some inappropriate stuff to her. She may have been a bit too caught up in the conversation. She only wanted to comfort the crying girl at first after all, there was no need to become so emotional. She couldn’t understand why she felt such a need to do it.

“Thank you…” she finally said. “Your story makes me feel better … I’m sorry I didn’t ask you your name. I’m Riko by the way.”

“It’s Maki. I’m glad you-“ she interrupted herself, slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

She got up and ran to her, stopping at the screen’s end. Riko was gaping as she slowly recognized the person in front of her. Maki wasn’t in a much different state. A realization had hit them both at the same time.

Maki remembered a night last year, when she was at Hanayo’s apartment with Rin. They were watching the Love Live finals, the one that saw Aqours’ victory. While Rin and Hanayo were cheering to the songs, Maki remembered being mesmerized by a certain dancing redhead, singing her heart out with pure bliss on her face. A feeling was reborn inside of her, but she had quickly casted it away, believing it was foolish to fall for a face on a tv screen. A face she hadn’t been able to clearly see again until that moment.

Riko remembered a night last year, right after a girl she had never seen before had invited her to become a school idol. She was scared of trying after her failure with the piano. However, that girl had piqued her curiosity and Riko had decided to at least have a look at what school idols were. Obviously, when researching school idols, µ’s was one of the first names to appear, one that caught her attention. She looked at a video of them dancing and was mesmerized by a certain dancing redhead, singing her heart out with pure confidence on her face. A feeling was born inside of her, but she quickly casted it away, believing it was foolish to fall for a face on a computer screen. A face she hadn’t paid attention to until that moment, on that beach.

Both frozen, they didn’t look away from each other, processing what had just happened, what had just begun.

##  Eli x Dia: Autograph please

The sun was shining. Staying in such a beautiful place was a blessing for the 23-year-old Dia Kurosawa, on vacation at her parents’ house after having worked in Tokyo for a whole year. Taking a long chair, putting it on the sand and waiting for the day to be over with a good book in hands, it was pure bliss. However, there was already someone on Dia’s favorite spot that day, a presence that made her freeze in place in spite of the radiant sun.

A gorgeous blonde woman, coming close to her thirties, but still fresh as the rose who just bloomed. She only had a beach towel, heart-shaped sunglasses, a parasol and a light blue bikini, nothing fancy as she was bronzing, half asleep. Yet, Dia was mesmerized by her presence as she was not any girl with a lot of charm. That woman was Eli Ayase, Dia’s model as she grew up and, despite her reluctance to admit it, the one that helped her realize her attraction to women.

Dia let the chair she was carrying fall and looked for a place to hide. There was none since the place was a small beach with only the two of them. She could have easily avoided Eli, but she hadn’t the will to run, nor the will to stay. She was back to being a 16-year-old girl with posters of her all over the walls of her bedroom dancing like there was no tomorrow at the tunes of her model. She was silently screaming, stomping the sand around her, trying to come up with something she could do.

The answer to her question came when Eli woke up, looked around her as she stretched and saw Dia in her full panic mode. Dia froze as Eli slightly removed her sunglasses, looking at her from above the actual glasses. She then gestured her to come closer. Dia mindlessly approached, she didn’t even grab her chair which was still lying behind her. Eli started to speak with a soft voice, almost seductive to Dia’s ears, to the point she would feel some shivers in her spine.

“It seems you recognized me. I’m a bit surprised: my time with µ’s is so far away now that I don’t expect people to still know who I am.”

“Ms. Ayase, you are as gorgeous as when µ’s was still the greatest of all!” Dia said, clearly flushed about her own audacity.

“Oh? Thank you…” Eli said, just as flustered. For the first time, she could get a good look at the young lady who was shaking and smiling, keeping her book pressed against her chest. Dia was wearing a purple bikini and had a straw hat protecting her from the sunbeams. Eli thought she looked good. “Would you like an autograph maybe?”

“I don’t want to bother you Ms. Ayase…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Eli said as she took a pen and some paper from her bag under the parasol. “And, by the way, I would prefer it if you called me Eli.”

“Oh… Ok, as you wish… Eli” Dia said, painfully containing the happiness inside her. “My name is Dia by the way.”

“Then, Dia, I can see you wanted to stay at this beach too. Do you maybe want to put your chair next to me, so I could learn a bit more about you?”

Dia’s smile was the brightest it had ever been. She stuttered some words as she ran back to her chair to take it, expressing her thanks to her favorite idol and many other things her nervousness kept her from clearly expressing, leaving only a bunch of weird sounds coming from her mouth. Eli wasn’t really paying attention to what the girl was saying. She was almost entirely focused on the bouncing of Dia’s ass as she was moving back.

##  Chika x Hanamaru: The desert of Uchiura

The summer training sessions were the worst for Hanamaru. The heat combined with her lack of physical condition would leave her a sweaty mess at the end of the day. She was always trailing behind when they were running on the beach. Sometimes they would run from Chika’s inn to the end of the beach and come back. Hanamaru remembered a time where she was halfway to the point of U-turn when Kanan and You would cross her on their way back to Chika’s. It was depressing for her.

That day, they would simply run from point A to point B and then repeat their dance formations. As always, Kanan and You were ahead of everyone, closely followed by Mari and Dia. The middle formation was made of everyone else and Hanamaru was left behind. To be fair, Ruby and Yoshiko had asked if she wanted them to stay with her, but she told them to run with the others. Hanamaru would feel guilty about slowing them down.

The group was running for 20 minutes and Hanamaru had already lost sight on them. According to her estimation, since the plan was to run for 7km and the average running speed in the group, they should be close to halfway. Meanwhile, she made a similar calculus based on her own performance. She concluded that she would arrive…

“Never, zuraaaa…” she lamented as she let herself fall flat on the sand. “I guess I’ll just perish in this desert…”

“Hey! Get up Hanamaru! I’m sure you’re capable of doing it”

“Uh?”

She was alone just a few seconds ago. However, next to her, running in place, was a positive Chika.

“But… Why are you here? Did I really die and are you a hallucination? Urgh, if I still have to run, it must mean I wasn’t a good enough girl for paradise, zura…”

“Don’t be overly dramatic, leave that kind of discourse to Yoshiko.” Chika said as she helped her friend get up. “I’m here to support you and cheer for you! And, by the way, I’ve been behind you the whole time.”

Hanamaru vaguely remembered a noise behind her as she was running, but she thought it was just her imagination. She got up with her help and looked at her. Obviously, Chika had plenty of stamina left. It wasn’t a difficult task to follow Hanamaru’s pace. She was panting but was now staying on her two legs, even though she was still holding Chika’s shoulder firmly. Chika was her crutch for the time being.

“But it’s no use. I don’t want to slow you down, zura. It would be better for you to run at the others’ speed.”

“If you would feel bad for slowing your friends down, you should understand how we all feel about leaving you behind, Hanamaru.”

“But…”

“No, no ‘But’ today. We care for you. I care for you. It doesn’t matter if we arrive when the sun sets. Do not try to push too hard, please. As long as we improve it’s the most important.”

“At my pace, you won’t improve yourself Chika. I don’t want that either…”

“Don’t worry about that. Kanan told me about exercises I could do while running at a slower pace. I’ll do those when I’m with you.”

“Ok then. I’ll continue training. For you and for everyone looking out for me! Be ready, zura!”

Hanamaru was seemingly draining energy from Chika’s cheers as they began running again. She wasn’t a good runner, far from it. However, with her friend at her side, she was more motivated than ever. Chika was following closely, bringing her knees higher during each of her steps. She tried going too hard with that exercise, however. She would soon enough run naturally at Hanamaru’s usual pace. But now that she was a block of energy and motivation, she couldn’t be stopped that easily. Chika had to push harder to stay close to her. Running at Hanamaru’s speed was a tougher experience than what she thought it’d be, but it was a great experience she would definitely try again.

##  Mari x Yoshiko: To the sunlight with you!

“And you tell me she hasn’t moved from her bedroom for a full week?” Mari asked as she was in front of the door to said bedroom.

“Yes, exactly. I bring her food, but she barely thanks me and goes back to what she was doing before. You know, she has always been an indoor child.” Yoshiko’s mother said with a concerned look. “But since she had started hanging out with you girls more, I thought that this summer might be a little different and… I’m sorry, it’s a bit too much for me...”

“Don’t worry Ms. Tsushima, I’ll get her out of it.” Mari said, gently patting the mother’s back. “We want to see her too. She’s barely answering our calls anymore and we’re all worried. I thought it was time to come see myself what was happening. I’ll talk to her.”

Yoshiko’s mother nodded and went back to the kitchen. Mari opened the door, revealing a mess of a room, only lit by the screen of Yoshiko’s pc. She entered the room and stepped on a few Doritos, which were scattered everywhere. Yoshiko didn’t even see her enter her lair. Her gaming headset was playing some music too, preventing her from hearing Mari’s footsteps and disgusted noises. Mari recognized a Babymetal song, which proved that Yoshiko had good taste at least. She reached the curtains and theatrically opened them.

“SHINYYYYYY!”

Yoshiko, shocked, fell from her chair. She started yowling and struggling from the ground like a wild animal who couldn’t stand up. A few seconds later, she slowed down enough to open her eyes and look at Mari.

“What? What are you doing here? I’m in the middle of an important moment of the scenario and you’re ruining it!” Yoshiko screamed as she was slowly regaining the coordination required to stand.

“Yoshiko… You’re playing Minecraft. I know that game. There’s no scenario except that there’s a dragon in the End.”

“Thanks for the spoilers…”

“Anyway, I’m here on behalf of all of Aqours to deliver the following message.” Mari said, giving her a hand to help her going back on her feet. “Come back to us please, we miss you.”

Mari smiled at her, not letting her hand go. Yoshiko blushed a bit, but still escaped Mari’s grasp to strike one of her fallen angel poses.

“Nice try, mortal, but you are inside Yohane’s unholy lair, where Her strength is unparalleled. Your powers are meaningless compared to Her splendor!” Yoshiko said with her deepest voice.

Mari was somewhat prepared to a “Yohane scenario” to happen. She didn’t expect to meet Yoshiko in her most gremlin state, but she knew she could bring her to follow her. Mari stroke a similar pose and tried to speak the same way as Yohane.

“But thy little demons need thy presence, o great fallen angel Yohane. Thou leave us lost without thy guidance, o dark lord.” Mari said with a voice she wanted to be deep and somewhat seductive, like Yoshiko could do. She couldn’t keep a serious tone however and it sounded a bit disappointing to her.

“Do not mock me please, Mari.”

She brought her chair back on its legs and sat on it. She had turned her back to Mari and was about to put her headset back on, but she stopped in the middle of her move. She spun her chair to look in Mari’s direction.

“Do you really want me to stop playing and come back to you?”

“Of course, Yoshiko, that’s what we want. We all-“

“No” Yoshiko interrupted her. “That’s not what I asked.”

She stood up, but didn’t really look at Mari directly, escaping her gaze by looking at the ground.

“I meant to ask if you, Mari, wanted me to come back…” she said fidgeting.

Mari opened her eyes wider in surprise. Was this a love confession from Yoshiko? It’s not something she had expected. However, she somehow knew exactly how she had to react. No. How she wanted to react, how she had wanted to react for a while now. She moved to Yoshiko and grabbed her chin to make her look up to her, locking eyes with her. She then pressed her forehead against hers, putting their mouths dangerously closed to each other.

“Why do you think I’m the one who came here?” Mari whispered to her, making Yoshiko smile and blush as much as herself.

Yoshiko had waited for that moment for a while now: the moment her lips would finally meet Mari’s. It was even more delightful than what she had expected it to be. She pressed her body against hers, wrapping her with her arms, closing her eyes and laughing during the kiss, moving away only to jump back to her. She was ascending.

When she was done enjoying her lips, she simply put her head on her shoulder, letting her hair flow on her face as Mari let her own head rest on hers. Mari moved away from her finally, smiling as much as she was.

“Should we go now? Why not making the other girls a bit jealous of us?” Mari asked, sticking her tongue out of her mouth and winking.

“Yeah, sure…” Yoshiko answered, stuck on her little cloud.

She went to her computer, quickly moved back to her Minecraft house and disconnected. She then closed the game and turned the computer off for the day. She grabbed Mari’s, her new girlfriend’s, hand and left the room with her. When she closed the door, she realized something.

“Wait, what? Hey, we’re not telling anyone yet, right!” she said in a complete panic, much to Mari’s amusement.

## Nozomi x Honoka: Stuck at home

Honoka was looking through the window of her bedroom angrily. The thunder’s roar was loud. How could she be enjoying her summer when the heavens had decided to flood the Earth?

“Hey, come on Honoka. Looking outside will not make the rain disappear, you know?” Nozomi said behind her as she came back from the toilets. “It happened once, but it was a coincidence.”

Honoka looked at her with a mix of anger, still, and surprise.

“Uh? I really did stop the rain back then! You’re the one with the weird powers, so you should believe that I did it. It’s the same as what you do all the time.”

“If it’s true, then why is it still raining?” Nozomi said with a smug look.

“I don’t know.” Honoka said with a pout, crossing her arms and letting her head rest on her bed. “Maybe I need to recharge my powers or something like that?

“How cute.” Nozomi said as she grabbed one of the pastries Honoka had brought to the room. “Should we try to refill your spiritual batteries then if we want to continue to enjoy summer?”

Nozomi had a devious smile adorning her face as she said those words. Honoka was about to fall right into her trap.

“Can we do that? How should we do it?” Honoka asked full of hope.

Bingo.

“Well…” Nozomi said, cracking her knuckles. “Get down on your knees and think about something calming. I will help you refill you with spiritual energy by washi-washiing you for two hours straight!”

“What? Two hours? That’s a lot!” Honoka said, panicked.

“What can I say? Your batteries are probably completely empty, and it will take a while to recharge.” Nozomi said with an overly dramatic tone. “If you prefer, we might do it in ten minutes sessions for a while and you’ll be full when we’re done.”

Nozomi moved past Honoka to go to the window. She looked outside in part for the dramatic effect, but mostly to keep Honoka from seeing her almost bursting into laughter. She enjoyed messing with Honoka a lot because she was such a naïve girl sometimes. Besides, getting the opportunity to caress a cute girl like her is not an offer Nozomi would ever turn down.

“No, it’s not what I mean.” Honoka said after a few seconds.

“What?” Nozomi thought.

“Two hours is super long because I want to go out and have fun today and it’s impossible if it lasts that long. If you washi-washi me super-duper fast, can we stop the rain even faster?”

“What?” Nozomi said out loud this time. “No, that’s not how it works…”

“Or wait! Even better! If I washi-washi you as fast as you washi-washi me at the same time, will I regain my powers even faster?”

“Honoka… no…” Nozomi said, a bit scared about how the conversation was changing. She liked being the washier, but she was a bit afraid of being the washied. “Please, let’s forget all of this. It’s not that terrible to stay inside after all, right?”

“No! I want to go outside today!” Honoka said, standing up and moving to Nozomi, moving her hands in a way Nozomi knew too well. “Come here and let’s increase my spiritual powers, Nozomi. I’m sure it’ll work well.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!” Nozomi screamed as she tried protecting her chest from Honoka’s hands, realizing that she could turn off an opportunity to caress a cute girl like her in the end.

## Shizuku x Kasumi: Why are we still here?

“Shizuku, I’m sorry.” Kasumi said with crying eyes, dropping to her knees to beg for her girlfriend’s pardon. “I don’t know what I did to upset you so much -maybe being too cute-, but please accept my apologies.”

“Kasumi… There’s no need to be so dramatic. You did nothing wrong.” Shizuku said, caressing Kasumi’s cheek and wiping her tears away. “We’re still going to that museum though.”

She held Kasumi’s hand with hers and dragged her to the Art Museum reception to buy their tickets. At first, she made some tantrum, but stopped, ashamed, when she noticed the way the people around were looking at her. She couldn’t stand not looking the cutest for even a minute. Shizuku didn’t let her hand go until she got their tickets. She gave one to Kasumi with a big smile and moved with her to the control point.

Kasumi didn’t understand why they had to be there. It was summer and they were supposed to do fun things, like going to the beach or … going to the beach! Kasumi wanted to be the cutest in her swimsuit and play in the sand, build a castle, play volleyball. But Shizuku was the one in charge for their date and she chose… this? The visit hadn’t even begun, and she was already tired of these old things.

“Why are we even here?” Kasumi said with a voice full of despair as she tried to escape Shizuku’s grip. “It will be soooooo boring…”

“And I dared imagine that my girlfriend could behave…” Shizuku said under her breath still firmly holding her hand. “At least, try to look at things here. You might find some interesting or cute things here. Ok, baby?” Shizuku said out loud this time.

Kasumi grumbled and blushed a bit. Shizuku’s words had an effect on her it seemed. She calmed down a bit, enough to let Shizuku let her hand go without having her flee. She kept holding her of course: she enjoyed her girlfriend’s hand’s contact with hers.

Shizuku wanted to visit a temporary exposition about the discovery of America by some Spanish guy. Kasumi didn’t pay a lot of attention to the items around her. There was a model of an old boat, a painting of a dude with white hair and a horrible bonnet and a bunch of weird tools. Apparently, those were for navigating, but Kasumi doubted these awful-looking knick-knacks would have ever worked.

Kasumi was close to falling asleep because everything there was so boring to her. However, she had a glance at Shizuku’s face. She was looking at the things there with so much joy. She had almost her nose pressed against the protecting glass when she looked at the model. She was reading the text under the painting with great attention and, when she was done, she had another look at the painting, like she could understand it better. When they moved to the navigation tools, she read all the descriptions and tried to teach Kasumi how it worked. Kasumi didn’t understand anything about them of course, but she learned something more valuable to her.

Shizuku was happy.

Kasumi felt a bit bad. She fully knew that Shizuku was way more cultivated than her. Unless the subject was idols, then Kasumi was obliterating her with her infinite wisdom about them. Kasumi didn’t think it was possible for her to enjoy an art museum. Yet, a look at her girlfriend, who was so happy to be there and to talk about what was around them, was enough to make her have a lump in her throat.

“That feeling is worth some suffering I guess.” Kasumi thought as she smiled to Shizuku. “I shouldn’t tell her though if I don’t want to come back here every week…”

Kasumi couldn’t help but squeeze Shizuku’s hand a little as they moved further inside the museum. Shizuku was surprised, but she enjoyed it. She rested her head on Kasumi’s for a few seconds and planted a kiss on her cheek. Kasumi’s heart was full of fluffy feelings.

“I love you so much, Shizuku.” She whispered inside her ear. “But next time, I’m totally bringing you to the beach.”

##  You x Kanan: Drowning in her heart

For an outdoor girl like Kanan or You, there was no better season than summer. No more school, no more lessons to learn, just the sun burning their skin all day and the sensation of sand crushing under their feet. There was no such thing as “a calm and relaxing summer” for Kanan Matsuura or You Watanabe.

They had decided to go surfing for the day, a sport Kanan was particularly good at. While You had already ridden the waves a few times, she was still nowhere near Kanan’s skill. A situation she wanted to change. She had secretly practiced to surprise and impress her friend. She was ready to show her what she was capable of.

Or, she thought she was. A wave was bigger than she expected it to be and she got knocked out of her surfboard. The shock was so strong that she got thrown to the bottom of the water, around two meters deep. Her head hit something hard and she fell unconscious. Her last thought was that it was a very stupid way to die, she only wanted Kanan to be proud of her after all…

But she didn’t die that day. She woke up on the beach, coughing and spitting some seawater. She first noticed the hands pressing her chest, then the salty taste in her mouth and, finally, the lips pressed against hers. When she opened her eyes, she saw those belonged to Kanan. Her savior was blowing the air from her lungs into hers. Seeing You waking up, she moved away just in time to dodge the water You was vomiting. There were people around them, and they looked relieved that the drowned girl survived.

“Thanks God, you’re alive…” Kanan said, almost tearing up as she moved back to her to hug her. “I was so worried. I am so glad you’re still there…”

You was still processing what had happened as she hugged Kanan back. She vaguely remembered the wave above her and the shock on the ground. She wondered if the trauma was blurring the accident in her mind.

“I’m sorry Kanan…” You said, with as much tears in the eyes as Kanan.

\--------------

A week had passed since the accident and You was acting as if nothing happened. She continued to be the energetic girl she had always been. One would expect that she would have trouble going in the water again, but it wasn’t the case. She was swimming and diving like nothing happened. She even told everyone that she wanted to go surfing again and show that it was only a moment of bad luck that threw her to the seafloor. 

You didn’t ask Kanan to come with her for her return to surf and she thought it was suspicious. She could see a crack in You’s carefree attitude. It was a crack she didn’t fully understand, one she mostly saw when she was talking to her, a hint of nervousness, discreet but it didn’t escape Kanan’s attention. She didn’t seem to be like that around their other friends however and Kanan was wondering why. She decided to force her to spill the beans and went to visit her at her house the next morning. You was about to leave for a run when she noticed Kanan arriving.

“Hey Kanan!” She said as she was about to start running. “What’s going on? You don’t often visit me anymore if there is no reason.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Kanan answered. “I am just worried about what happened last week and I wanted to check if you were fine because I have the impression that you’re not totally fine.”

“Well, I’m totally fine.” You said, doing a salute and winking at her. “I fell once, but I’ll be even stronger now and I won’t make the same mistakes twice. Don’t worry about me so much.”

“You…” Kanan said, taking her hands in hers and looking her directly in the eyes. “You know you can trust me and tell me anything. It’s normal to be afraid after such a thing happened to you.”

“No, it has nothing to do with that it’s just…” You said, realizing she had admitted having a problem. She bit her lower lip, understanding she was unlikely to get away easily from Kanan. “It’s something ridiculous, I shouldn’t be bothering you with it.”

She tried to stand up and move away, but Kanan was still holding her hands firmly.

“I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me. I care for you. Talk to me, please. What’s happening? What can I do?”

You sat down again but didn’t look Kanan in the eyes anymore. She was looking at the ground when she talked in her most unintelligible voice.

“Ymhlkou stmromle myyo feoisrt krimss” 

“Say that again?”

You was blushing and fidgeting. She was about to say something she absolutely didn’t want to say, especially to her. She removed her hands from Kanan’s grasp and gathered her courage to say what was on her heart.

“You stole my first kiss…” You said, immediately hiding her face inside her hands after saying those words.

There was a moment of silence, broken by the sounds of Kanan painfully containing her laughter. When You, with her serious expression, looked at her, she couldn’t contain it anymore and gave in to her hilarity.

“Good to be taken seriously I guess.” You said with a frustrated tone.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Kanan said, slowly calming down. “Do you really mean it? Do you really think I stole your first kiss?”

“Well, of course!” You said like it was obvious. “When I woke up, your lips were pressed on mine. If that’s not a kiss, then what is it?”

Kanan smiled at her. Despite being only one year younger, You was much more innocent than her, though Kanan could blame Mari’s stories for how she lost hers.

“You, there is a big difference between a real kiss and giving mouth-to-mouth to someone who was drowning.”

“I guess you’re right, but I can’t shake it out of my mind.” You said as she brought her knees to her face.

Kanan sighed. Despite how stupid it sounded to her, it seemed that You was deeply moved by it. She could only think of one solution to end that situation, a solution she didn’t really like but she couldn’t think of another one at that moment.

“If it makes you feel better, you can take mine then. My first kiss I mean. This way, we’re at the same point and we can move on. Ok?” Kanan said as she sat in front of her again.

“Wait what?” You said, initially surprised. She quickly moved to a suspicious at her words. “I’m sure it’s not your first one, it can’t be…”

“Believe it or not, You, but I never kissed a boy before. Or a girl, for what it’s worth.” Kanan said, putting her chin up. “I’ll close my eyes and I’ll count to thirty. During those thirty seconds, you’ll be allowed to do what you want, and I won’t get mad at you, whatever you do. But when I’m done counting, I’ll consider that our problem is solved. Ok?”

In complete disbelief at what was happening, You mindlessly nodded. Kanan closed her eyes and slightly opened her mouth.

“One. Two.” She started counting loud before going silent, continuing in her head.

If someone were to ask what went through You’s head during those moments, she wouldn’t be able to answer. There was not a single thought in her head when she stood up to be above her face. She took a deep breath.

Then, she pressed her lips against Kanan’s and opened her mouth. She closed her eyes when she put her left hand on her jowl. Then, she pinched Kanan’s nose with her other hand and blew all the air in her lungs into her. She moved away, took another deep breath and repeated the process two times. After she was done, Kanan opened her eyes and You moved back, shaking a bit.

“You should also have added the cardiac massage if you wanted to be more accurate.” Kanan said, ironically needing to catch her breath. “Jokes aside, do you feel better now?”

“You were right, Kanan.” You said, recovering from her emotions. “I don’t know what a real kiss is, but I’m sure it’s not like that.”

“I told you.” Kanan said with a sincere smile. “Do you want to go running now?”

“Yeah, that sounds fun.” She answered with a smile as big as Kanan’s. “Thank you, Kanan. For everything.”

Kanan nodded and started running. You stayed a bit behind. She touched her lower lip and looked at her finger. It didn’t look different. She licked her own lips, expecting them to taste a bit like seaweed. It didn’t taste different. She looked at Kanan, already ten meters ahead of her, showing how much energy she had when it came to physical activities.

She looked different.

“Nope, it didn’t feel like a real kiss at all…” She thought, blushing, as she began running to catch up with Kanan.


	4. Promptober

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 10 short stories (2000 characters maximum) about Love Live. Platonic (&) and romantic (/) relations in this work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 10 Love Live short stories i wrote for the 1st writing event in Idol Fanfic Heaven. Here are the rules for the event as usual.  
> \-------------------------------  
> Hello everyone and welcome to the first Idol Fanfic Heaven writing event. 
> 
> During all of the month of October, a prompt of 1 or 3 words will be posted each day in the #prompts-and-submissions channel at 6am UTC.  
> To take part in the event, just write a short ficlet about the prompt of the day and post it in the #prompts-and-submissions event channel.  
> Here are the detailed rules
> 
> \- Character limit for your submissions: 2000 (the size of a single Discord message)  
> \- Only SFW submissions are accepted, the rules for the server apply  
> \- You may submit a ficlet for any fandom  
> \- Have your ficlet be related to the current day's prompt (if you are too late, feel free to post what you've done in #ll-ficlets or #non-ll-ficlets )  
> \- 1 submission per prompt per person. If you have additional ficlets you want to make, direct them to #ll-ficlets or #non-ll-ficlets 
> 
> Please precede your ficlet with a message mentioning the fandom you're writing for and any content warning you feel the need to share. A title is recommended, but not obligatory.  
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# [Cruise] Mari’s suite life on deck

### Mari

The SS Ohara's swaying was what woke Mari up. She opened her eyes, stretched and looked through the porthole in her cabin. The ocean's blue as far as the eye could see. She sighed: the sun was barely rising.

She stood up, picked her clothes for the day and went to the deck, letting Kanan sleep in one of the other beds in her cabin. She sat on a long chair and sipped her coffee while looking at the cruise ship coming to life.

Slowly, more people appeared and greeted her. Dia was taking her role to supervise their group very seriously and was already checking that everything was safe for them. Chika and You woke up next and started running everywhere, ruining Dia's organization efforts.

Then, Yoshiko came out of her cabin while Riko left Chika and You's. Yoshiko looked full of energy, unlike Riko who looked like she could have used some more sleep. Ruby and Hanamaru followed Yoshiko, ready to spend the day lazing around on their own long chairs. Finally, Kanan joined Mari and sipped her fruit juice. Mari smiled about how being on the sea made Kanan so sleepy.

"I wish this cruise would never end Kanan. Just look at us all together, enjoying ourselves."

"Well, Mari, we'll have to come back to Numazu eventually. There's school after all."

"Imagine if there was a school on this boat, that'd be the dream."

Mari took another sip from her coffee while watching all of her friends.

# [Tractor] Instinctively perfect

### Karin & Ai

Karin had arrived with Ai at the Tokyo automobile exposition early. Karin had received an invitation from her mannequin agency and Ai was simply excited to have the opportunity to look at so many amazing cars. When they arrived, the organizer immediately ran to them.

"Asaka? Thanks god, you're there."

"Uh? I never got such a reaction when I show up for a job. I could get used to it."

"Sorry, but I've had a lot of models call today to say they wouldn't come, so it's a relief to have at least some of them be there. I'm afraid we might be a bit short today."

"Hey, mister funny hat, Ai can help and pose if you need to," Ai interfered.

"What? Who are you and why would I accept you?"

"Ai'm Ai and I'm a school idol with my buddy-buddy Karin. I came here to look at cool cars, but I could lay on some too: it sounds fun."

"...I'm in no position to refuse..." the organizer said, despaired. "Asaka, you take responsibility for her."

"Oh? Well, ok I guess."

"It wasn't a question. She'll pose with you: don't leave her alone."

"I don't think Ai needs so much baby-sitting: she's instinctively good at almost anything and-"

They were interrupted by the sound of Ai screaming from the agricultural section of the exposition. Karin and her boss looked in that direction to see Ai standing on her hands, on top of a tractor.

"I'm bready to be an am-Ai-zing model like you, Karin!"

"...She won't leave my field of vision again, boss..."

# [Spa] On tour

### Dia/Sarah

"I still can't believe I accepted to take part in this..."

"You wound me, Dia-baby. You would have preferred to wait for me at home for a whole year?"

"Don't be silly, I wouldn't survive being away from you for so long!"

Dia pouted while Sarah continued working on the car. The Grand Prix would only begin in three days, but the car had to be in a perfect condition for its pilot.

"You know how great of an opportunity this is for me to work for the Mercedes team. By working on this formula 1, I might get a better status."

"I know, it's just that I miss Japan..."

At that moment, she felt Sarah's finger leave a trace of grease on her cheek. She turned in her direction. Sarah winked at her.

"You know, next month we travel to Russia. Isn't there someone there you'd like to try seeing?"

Dia's idol sense started tingling. Sarah took both of Dia's hands in hers.

"Why don't you try to enjoy Belgium while we're here? Spa is a beautiful place and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Besides, we won't be here for long after all and we'll be back home in no time."

Sarah was about to move away, but Dia firmly held her hands in hers, despite how oil made them slippery, blushing.

"Sarah, as long as you're there, anywhere feels like home."

A smile appeared on Sarah's face, with a small tear in the corner of her eye. They didn't move for a few seconds, enjoying the contact of their intertwined fingers.

# [Pumpkin] The pumpmikan

### Chika & You

"Halloween sucks."

You looked down on Chika, who was sitting on the floor, arms crossed and pouting. The pumpkin in front of her was more butchered than carved and her knife's blade was completely skewed.

"Hey, come on, Chika. No need to be so negative, that's just not like you."

You smiled and messed with her hair. She knew that Chika Takami was probably the worst pumpkin carver to ever have walked the land of Uchiura. For this reason, she, You Watanabe, the vegetable artist, the Bob Ross of cucurbits, had prepared a little surprise to cheer Chika up.

"I guess your attitude leaves me no choice, Chika. Close your eyes, please."

Chika giggled as she closes her eyes, happy about both the anticipation for the surprise and escaping the pumpkin carving session. You moved to her bag, took something out of it and put it in Chika's hands.

"There!"

Chika opened her eyes to look at a mikan carved like a Halloween pumpkin.

"Do you feel reconciled with Halloween now?"

"Woah! It looks super cute! Thank you, You!" Chika said as she hugged You. "I'm not bestie with Halloween yet, but it's a nice first step."

"I'm glad you liked it, it's way harder to carve mikans than pumpkins so you'll have to be extra..." You interrupted herself when she saw Chika about to put the mikan in her mouth.

"..."

"..."

"I'll...I'll get back to my pumpkin I guess..." Chika said, slowly putting You's gift back on the table next to them and trying to repair her knife by pushing on the blade.

Chika tried to soothe You by laughing a bit, but the disappointment took more time to disappear from You's face than Chika thought it would.

# [Nine] Premonition

#### (based on one of my other works “Nozomi’s senpai” https://archiveofourown.org/works/24796018 though it is not obligatory to have read it for basic comprehension of this short story)

### Nozomi/female OC

Katrina had told me that that night was a special night. She had told me that if two lovers looked at the stars together, they would see their future. We were both curious, so we spent the night on the school's rooftop again, fingers intertwined, and eyes locked with the dark infinite above.

My eyes immediately locked with a little star, isolated from the others. I looked her for a while until a shooting star crossed her. The star seemed to shine brighter after the shooting star was gone. I could also swear that a second star had appeared next to my little lonely star. It made me smile.

Another falling star appeared near them. Soon after, a group of three stars caught my attention. They weren't exactly next to my star, but i liked them too. Then, three more stars seemed to appear next to them and another one after a minute. The seven stars were shining so bright.

Another shooting star and my star and her friend disappeared. It made me a bit sad, but then I saw that there were two more stars in the group I saw. I wanted to believe that the two stars had joined them, creating a group of nine stars, friends.

Another shooting star and the nine stars disappeared. I was surprised and sad, but then I saw that my star was back to its place with her friend. The two were shining brighter than ever before.

I looked at Katrina, who was still concentrating on the stars. I didn't know what the future held in store for us or what the stars tried to tell me, but I felt something warm inside. I had the feeling that I would be alright.

# [Date] Diver goddess

### Kanan/You

The moments before the competition were the hardest for You. The running order was determined by their names' alphabetical order. Moments like these, she regretted a bit to have 'Watanabe' as hers. She was the last to jump from the diving board that day.

She gulped as she looked at the scoreboard in the distance. It seemed that a certain Minamoto was leading the competition with a score above her personal record. She'd have to beat it to get the golden medal that day, something that made her really nervous.

"Hey, You! It's not like you to shake like that before diving!" a voice said as she was waiting to be called to the board.

You looked up, in the direction of that voice. It was Kanan, who was leaning on the barrier from the row of seats above her head. She had a very comforting smile, contrasting with how uneasy You was.

"Is it that obvious?"

"To others, maybe not. But, to me, it's obvious like a Chika on a mikan tree."

The image of Chika perched in a tree with a mikan in her voice made You burst into laughter.

"That's true, I'm nervous. I have never gotten a higher score than that girl, so I'm not sure I can win today, you see."

"What you need is a little something to motivate you, that's all," Kanan said with an intensity You had never seen before. "If you win today, You, I'll invite you to the restaurant for a date."

As she let those words out, a slight blush appeared on Kanan's cheeks. Of course, it was nowhere to how red You's were. Her mouth was wide open, and she was beginning to panic, her own heartbeat the only thing she could hear.

"But you'll have to win: I won't date a loser."

This made You come back to Earth. The two girls knew that last part wasn't true, that she would bring You to the restaurant even if she lost. She was about to answer something when the speaker resonated.

"Next on the diving board: Watanabe You!"

You was determined to show Kanan she would be dating a winner tonight.

# [Sleepy] Saving private Ayumu

### Ayumu & Setsuna & Karin & Kasumi

Ayumu was a very positive girl, always seemingly happy and welcoming. So, for her to think that she wanted to cut Setsuna's throat with a knife to force her to stop talking meant that Setsuna really was being annoying. She had been talking about anime non-stop for the last hour and she didn't seem close to being done. Ayumu remained silent and polite, but she was closer and closer to losing it. Kasumi and Karin were watching from the sidelines.

"Hey, Karin, I have an amazing idea for something fun," Kasumi said with a devilish smile. "You know how Setsuna is always so energetic when she's talking about anime? What if we gave her your energy drink to see what happens? I want to see if she can reach the mega-instinct or whatever that thing she talked about yesterday was."

"Kasumi, that's just mean..." Karin said with a tired expression. "But I'm curious to see if she can go further than two words per second. Here, take it."

Kasumi took the drink from Karin and put some inside of her bottle of apple juice to hide the taste a bit. Once she was done, she went to interrupt Setsuna.

"Hey, Setsu? Do you want a drink?"

"Oh sure!"

She took the bottle without thinking and swallowed it all, which made Kasumi a bit worried. Setsuna gave the bottle back to Kasumi and was about to start talking to a despaired Ayumu again, but she stopped. Her dilated pupils were looking into the distance as she started shaking with a big smile. Kasumi was afraid of the monster she may have created.

"I! AM! SUPER! EXTRA!"

Karin had moved closer when Setsuna drank and now Kasumi was hugging her in terror.

"...tired..."

As she said that last word, she fell asleep on the table, peacefully snoring. Everybody watched in silence. Ayumu stood up and hugged Kasumi.

"I don't know what you've done but thank you. Just, thank you."

She then put a blanket over Setsuna and left the room, feeling a freedom she thought lost forever.

# [Duel] The problem solver

### Honoka & Eli & Umi

When they arrived at the bakery, Honoka lead Eli and Umi to the cellar to settle a quarrel with Eli. Down there, there was just a circle traced on the ground but there were also the dozens of training swords. Honoka skipped while picking a sword and moved to a mark in the circle, smiling at Eli.

"Pick one of the wooden swords and let's see who was right."

"Honoka, when I said we had to find a way to settle our little problem, this is not what I had in mind."

"Too late to be sorry," Honoka said without losing her smile. "Now pick a sword, I want to get started."

Eli nervously turned to Umi, who seemed to sweat a lot.

"Umi, I can't hit Honoka with a weapon, even a wooden one."

"If that's what you're worried about, then calm down. You won't hit her."

"Oh? So, it's a game that won't have us actually fight?" Eli asked, grabbing one of the swords and going inside of the circle. "That's a relief..."

Honoka had already jumped to her and stabbed her violently in the stomach, faster than Eli thought possible.

"... I meant that she's too good and that you won't be capable of hitting her." Umi said as Eli dropped on her knees. "She is that good."

"One point for me, Eli!" Honoka said, going back to her mark.

"But I wasn't ready, Honoka!"

"Uh? You entered the ring, which meant you were supposed to be ready. Are you ready now?"

"Yes, now I am."

"Ok!"

Again, Honoka moved at a lightning fast speed and reached Eli in no time, striking her arm before Eli could react.

"Two points for me! Three more and I win, which means that I was right!"

"Ouch..."

"Eli, I've tried before and I failed," Umi whispered into Eli's ear. "Just accept your defeat and surrender, so you won't have too many bruises."

"Never! If I have to defeat her with this stick to put some sense into her, then so be it! En garde, Honoka!"

Eli then lost pathetically.

# [Ice] Extended vacations

### Chika/Tsuki

"Takami, I heard the news about the avalanche on tv. Are you alright?"

"Oh, boss? Thank you for calling. I'm alright, yes."

"Thanks god... I remembered that this was where you and your friend went on vacation and feared for the worst."

"We were busy somewhere else when the avalanche hit the ski run, we're unharmed."

"What a relief. Listen, if you need a few extra days of vacation before coming back to the office, I can make that work. It must have been a traumatic experience, so take the time you need."

"That's very generous of you, thank you, boss."

"No need to worry. Even bosses are humans after all. I won't bother you more. Take care of yourself Takami and goodbye."

Chika hung up her phone, wondering what had just happened. She shivered when she felt a kiss on her neck.

"Did your boss discover we came back early from the mountain and he wants you to go back to the office earlier too?" Tsuki said as she left Chika's glass of wine on the table.

"The opposite actually," Chika said, picking her glass with one hand and caressing Tsuki's cheek with the other. "I got extra days. You're stuck with me for even longer."

Tsuki smiled and planted her softest kiss on Chika's lips.

"I prefer it that way, Sweetie."

# [Trick or treat] Ailloween

### Ai & Rina + Emma/Karin

Ai loved Halloween. She loved any opportunity to do something fun and she didn't see many things more fun than getting candies or playing tricks on people. She couldn't wait to end the day by doing a snow angel in the leftovers from her heist. On top of it, she had convinced Rina to join her to double the fun.

They decided to start their hunt by going to Emma and Karin's room. Ai rang the bell and waited a few seconds before Karin opened the door.

"Trick or treat, Karout?" Ai asked, earning an unimpressed expression from Karin.

She didn't even have time to answer, Rina had already thrown a roll of toilet paper inside of the room while still holding a bit so it would roll out as much as possible.

"Aren't you supposed to wait for me to answer before playing the trick, Rina?"

"I knew you were going to say no."

"Well, I was going to say no, but it's no excuse for-"

"What is happening here?" Emma asked as she picked the roll from the ground.

"Emmama! Trick or treat?" Ai asked while striking a pose.

"Aww, you two are so adorable with those outfits! Are these the ones from our performance at the zoo?"

"I'm a cutie panther and Rinari is an excited tanuki."

"I am very excited," Rina said without showing it. "I'll be even more excited with candy in my bag."

"Of course, let me get some for you two," Emma said, moving away. She reappeared a few seconds later with ten pieces of candy for each.

"Woohoo," Rina exclaimed with a monotone voice. "Thanks Emma."

"Yay! Thank for the contribution, Emmama!"

The duo bowed and ran away with their heist. Emma and Karin watched them from the doorstep.

"You spoil these kids too much, honey," Karin said, smiling as she shook her head with disapprobation.

"What can I say? That's how I am."

"When we have our own children, will you also spoil them like that?"

Emma winked and took Karin's hand as she brought her back inside.

"We'll have to start our family to see about that."


End file.
